The Rhine river, a lifeline of Germany, crippled by one of the worst droughts on record – “I’ve never experienced so little water here”

By Christopher F. Schuetze 4 November 2018 KAUB, Germany (The New York Times) – Just after sunrise, Capt. Frank Sep turned to his ship’s radio for the defining news of his day: the water level in Kaub, the shallowest part of the middle section of the Rhine, Germany’s most important shipping route. The news was […]

Scientists: Wind and drought worsen fires, not bad management – “Instead the result of our baking of our forests, woodlands, and grasslands with ever-worsening climate change”

By Seth Borenstein 12 November 2018 WASHINGTON (AP) – Both nature and humans share blame for California’s devastating wildfires, but forest management did not play a major role, despite President Donald Trump’s claims, fire scientists say.Nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, and human-caused climate change over the long haul is killing […]

The unseen driver behind the Central American migrant caravan: global warming – “We are seeing tremendous climate instability that is radically changing food security in the region”

By Oliver Milman, Emily Holden, and David Agren 30 October 2018 (The Guardian) – Thousands of Central American migrants trudging through Mexico towards the US have regularly been described as either fleeing gang violence or extreme poverty. But another crucial driving factor behind the migrant caravan has been harder to grasp: climate change.Most members of […]

Weather 2050: America is warming fast – See how your city’s weather will be different in just one generation

By Umair Irfan, Eliza Barclay, and Kavya Sukumar 30 October 2018 (Vox) – Our world is getting warmer. This we know.Just look at Los Angeles, which experienced all-time record heat in July 2018, topping out at 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Dozens of other heat records across the United States were smashed this summer alone.But how much […]

What migrants displaced by the Dust Bowl and climate events can teach us

By Francesca Paris 20 October 2018 (NPR) – The World Bank predicts climate change could create as many as 143 million “climate migrants” by 2050. The result would be a mass migration twice as large as the number of refugees in the world today.Though the size of potential displacement is unprecedented, the relationship between migration […]

Persistent Alaska warmth in fall 2018 has brought back “the blob” – No snow yet in Fairbanks, latest on record

By Ian Livingston 18 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – Throughout early fall, Alaska has been oddly warm and pleasant. The cause of the freakishly nice weather has been massive high pressure anchored over and around the state. One of the strongest on record for fall, this sprawling dome of warm air has helped keep […]

Afghan drought “displacing more people than Taliban conflict”

By Secunder Kermani 17 October 2018 (BBC News) – A deadly drought in Afghanistan is causing a humanitarian crisis that has displaced more people this year than the war between the government and the Taliban. The BBC’s Secunder Kermani reports from Herat. Shadi Mohammed, 70, wells up with tears as he walks through the makeshift […]

Utah’s extreme drought prompts a state of emergency – “The drought is at a level unseen for many years”

By Pam Wright 17 October 2018 (The Weather Channel) – An extreme drought that depleted half of Utah’s reservoirs has prompted Gov. Gary Herbert to declare a state of emergency.The declaration allows drought-affected communities, agricultural producers and others to begin the process of accessing state or federal resources, according to a press release.“The rainfall we […]

Here’s where the post-apocalyptic water wars will be fought

By George Dvorsky 17 October 2018 (Gizmodo) – A United Nations report published last week said we have about a decade to get climate change under control, which—let’s be honest—isn’t likely to happen. So break out your goalie masks and harpoon guns, a Mad Max future awaits! Now, as new research points out, we even […]

Tornadoes are spinning up farther east in U.S. as the Great Plains dry out – “More folks are generally at risk because of that eastward shift”

By Seth Borenstein 17 October 2018 WASHINGTON (AP) – Over the past few decades tornadoes have been shifting — decreasing in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas but spinning up more in states along the Mississippi River and farther east, a new study shows. Scientists aren’t quite certain why.Tornado activity is increasing most in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, […]

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